If Romney is the nominee and next President, then an all-Republican Congress will have to keep pressure on him to steer the proper course.

That will be a challenge. What may happen is that Romney will become the "darling" of the MSM for "standing up" to the "extremist" Congress. I hope not. I hope the VP choice will be solidly conservative and exert pressure on Romney.

To be utterly realistic: we are a center-right country. We posters here tend to forget the CENTER part. We are currently, and have been for some time, RULED by a center-left coalition. Our best bet for the foreseeable future is to have center-right governance for the foreseeable future. A smart GOP Congress (both houses) would steer the president to that path, rather than try to pull him hard right. Sorry folks, but that beats the alternative we have now.

My biggest concern with a President Romney is what he does with the Supreme Court when Ginsburg retires (and I hope she waits until 2013). "Moderate" GOP presidents have an infuriating habit of nominating ciphers like Souter, and even Reagan gave us that ditz O'Connor. Now Bush the First gave us Thomas, and another Thomas is what we need.

Oh yes, folks: THAT SUPREME COURT THING:

For all you would-be sourpuss dropouts: the idea of four more years of Obama in regards to the Supreme Court ought to have you crapping in your pants. While I may have misgivings about a GOP president nominating a cipher, we all know damned well that what we'll get with Obama, don't we?

Please think this through, fence-sitters: Think comprehensivley. GOP/conservative power is increasing at the state level, and redistricting is going to favor the GOP, even if only as a marginal improvement; let's take what we can get. If both the House and Senate are GOP, that's another bonus. If the president is republican, then the chances for a genuinely conservative court go up. Also, ANY Republican president is going to be enthusiastic about allowing America's looming hydrocarbon boom (oil, gas and coal) go forward, and ANY GOP president is going to boost business's confidence sky-high, and unleash them.

All these things are for the good. America will enjoy a rennaissance while in GOP hands. Get my drift? Do I have to slap you harder, or do you fnally get it?

Four years of Obama is plenty for enough people to get the message about the sheer stupidity of electing people like him and putting his party in charge of anything, but ONLY if it's followed by a boom presided over by a GOP political majority. Eight years of Obama, even with an opposition Congress will be very, very bad news for America. Remember, this guy has used the executive order and unleashed the federal agencies with a regularity and vengeance never seen in modern American history. And remember, his party has been making noises about suspending democracy.

Do you get it now? I sure as Hell hope so. If Romney ends up being the nominee, show up at the polls, hold your nose, shove the New Black Panther morons out of the way, and vote for Romney, or whichever ham sandwich the Stupid Party offers up.

"It is impossible to speak in such a way that you cannot be misunderstood." -- Karl Popper
N.B.: Comments are moderated and may not appear immediately. Comments that exceed the obscenity or stupidity limits will be either edited or expunged.

True That!

Posted by: David McKinnis at October 5, 2011 12:51 PM

But we must be careful to stop confusing what needs to be done by Congress for what will be done by Congress. There is almost no evidence Republicans in Congress can sustain any effort. They always have been pre-loaded with surrender, even if a relative handful of members are staunch in their Conservatism.

The GOP could have de-funded ObamaCare in the first month of the new GOP-controlled Congress. What did they do after running on a "repeal ObamaCare" platform? The GOP, specifically David Dryer on the Rules Committee, under Speaker Boehner's approval, voted down a simple "no money shall be spent and no employee shall be used to implement ObamaCare. Bad enough, not quite. Then David Dryer went on Hugh Hewitt and tried to explain away failing to take the action to do what was clearly demanded by voters and promised by candidates by claiming that the Tea Party was not demanding smaller gov't but they really were infuriated by "closed rules" on legislation. Really? The Tea Party is not about overreach it's about whether or not amendments can be attached to bills? Really?

That's how stupid GOP-er think we are. So to imagine that after all of the weakness and "missed" opportunities the GOP has seen the light and will do the right thing is to miss what the GOP does every time they get power, trim and hde. We have no right to accuse the Left of willfully ignoring leftist genocide, socialist economic decline and national weakness over the last century when we actively pretend "this time it's different" with the GOP.

If your Congressman isn't a rabid Tea Party member, telling Boehner to pound sand he will sell you out early and often. Stop kidding yourself. If he/she ain't Tea Party he/she's RINO. Moderate language and cooperation is their calling card. See the signs, don't be a chump, again.

Good points all, but what is the alternative under present circumstances? Also, you are forgetting that there IS a significant difference with this House because of the presence of Tea Party-backed candidates. There are things afoot that are taking hold.

Eyes on the prize: Get rid of Obama first and get hold of the Senate as well. One big thing at a time. I too grate at the GOP establishment's behavior; I mean, who the F***k does Georgette Mosbacher think she is?

Fight the first battle against Obama, and win, then go after that segment of the GOP establishment that insists on sabotage.

Remember the old adage, "the enemy of my enemy is my friend," and apply it to the GOP. After that battle is won, gear up for the next one. We need to think in terms of a Long March for the Right.

Posted by: Don Rodrigo at October 5, 2011 2:47 PM

Gerard, I'm flattered.

Thank you for this.

Posted by: Don Rodrigo at October 5, 2011 2:49 PM

Um,...I'm in complete agreement with you Don. Your Supreme Court arguement is the most compelling and one that I try to promote to friends.

Posted by: David McKinnis at October 5, 2011 5:36 PM

"ANY Republican president is...."

No one's crystal ball is that good. Nixon, Reagan, Bush, Bush and the Department of Education is still here; the Left hasn't been defunded; Homeland Security exists; etc. etc.

Since the last election, the House could have refused to fund any number of government departments. It hasn't.

Posted by: ErisGuy at October 5, 2011 6:48 PM

ABO -2012!!
For all the reasons you pointed out Don Rodrigo.

Posted by: Jimmy J. at October 5, 2011 8:28 PM

"Since the last election, the House could have refused to fund any number of government departments."

Not so. The Senate has not adopted a budget, and the House must appropriate through continuing resolutions. If a continuing resolution is not adopted, we get the government shutdown dance, and Hussein threatens to hold up social security checks.

There can be no break in the pattern until January 2103.

Posted by: Fat Man at October 5, 2011 8:53 PM

You all need to take a chill pill. There will be no voting for 5 months, and the general election is 13 months away. A lot can and will happen.

Let me tell you a story. A long, long, time ago. Way back in 2008. There was an election. The country elected a man from an ethnic and racial minority, whose religion is repellant to almost all Americans, and whose track record was zilch, except for the work he had done for socialist organizers.

Why did that happen? Was he a knight in shinning armor who could communicate? He dressed up nicely and he could read the lines on a teleprompter. But, otherwise he was a nobody from a corrupt urban political regime.

He won because the economy went into a tail spin 7 weeks before the election.

Since then he has presided over disastrous policies, that have left us with the worst post crash economy since WWII, Congress has not adopted a budget in the last 3 years. The Administration has not proposed a serious budget, and he has dropped everything else to hit the campaign trail.

Would he be re-elected if the election were held next Tuesday? I doubt it, but the election is 13 months away. A lot can happen. The good news for those patriotic Americans who want to see Hussein go back to his corrupt buddies, is that if something happens, he probably will not handle it well. The economy is more likely to get worse than it is to get better. And the foreign policy arena that he so wanted to avoid holds many unpleasant surprises for him.

One thing is clear to me. The USA cannot stand another four years of Hussein and the Insane Clown Posse. We must support any GOP nominee who is not a leper. It is a matter of Fierce Moral Urgency.

As the Blogfather says: I will vote for a syphilitic camel, if that helps to stop Hussein Insane from being re-elected in 2012.

==========================================================

“Put not your trust in princes,
in mortal men, who cannot save you.
When their spirit departs, they return to the earth;
on that day their thoughts die too.”

Ps 146:3-4

There seems to be present among many Republicans a desire to find a savior, a man who will ride in on a white horse and who by his aura will convince people to follow him. They think that the right man will be able to articulate their thoughts so clearly, that everyone will be convinced of the truth of his words and the Democrats tongues will be broken.

It won’t happen. The Democrats have been running the country for three generations. They are not going to quit or give up. Their legions of minions in the media and academia will continue to spout their line, and to vilify and distort conservative ideas and Republicans statements at full volume for the next two years at least. Many institutions from unions to universities to the civil service are committed to the Democrat regime. They are dug in and they will die in the last ditch.

It is not hopeless. Hussein can’t run on hope and change in 2012. He has a record and it is ugly. If the economy continues to cough and sputter for the next year and a half, like it has for the last couple of years, Hussein will lose. The Republican will not beat him, No Republican has a chance of doing that (see the previous graf for the reasons why), but he can and will lose if things don’t get suddenly and obviously better.

Further, the first job of the next president is not invent the world from scratch. It is to wrestle the Federal Bureaucracy to the ground and make it say uncle. Ideas are unnecessary.

The second job will be recovering from the foreign policy damage that Hussein and the Monstrous Regiment of Women has inflicted on the US. It requires judgment from the President, not knowledge nor, heaven help us, oratory.

==================================================

The odds are that Mitt Romney will be the Republican Nominee when all is said and done. As evidence, I can cite InTrade, which is now giving him an almost 60% chance. I think that his competitors are by and large light-weights, and I think Mitt will wrap it up sooner, rather than later.

Cain for one example seems to be the heartthrob of the moment. But, I heard Chris Wallace reduce him to rubble by asking pretty basic questions on foreign policy. He also was not able to explain with any clarity who had vetted his 9-9-9 plan for economic viability.

I really do not understand the animus against Romney. He is human, he has flaws. He is a politician, he has flip-flopped — It is part of the game. Learn to live with it. Many people want Ronald Reagan to be re-incarnated. It will not happen.

Has Romney altered positions on occasion? Of course he has. He is a politician. That is what politicians do. Intellectuals can have clear consistent positions logically derived from first principles. Politicians do what they have to do.

You may think that Hussein is a socialist ideologue. But real lefties think he is a LINO squish. And they are not wrong. But Hussein is a politician and he is dancing as fast as he can. It ain’t pretty, but he is doing what he thinks he needs to do to preserve his shrinking chance of re-election.

President Romney will disappoint ideological conservatives. But, then again any of the possible candidates will disappoint you. Reagan disappointed me by not scrubbing the Department of Education, and he had promised.

But, if President Romney (or President Perry, for that matter) can stop the country from going over the financial waterfall it is fast approaching, I will say Dayeinu!

At any rate, if anyone reading this stays home and Hussein is re-elected, the destruction of the Republic will be on your head.

Posted by: Fat Man at October 5, 2011 9:06 PM

I will not vote for Romney. Period.

If he is the nominee, I will vote Libertarian.

I've done it before, and I can do it again without batting an eye.

Posted by: rickl at October 5, 2011 11:13 PM

Fat Man, true the House alone can't defund anything but their own expenses. But the House wouldn't even pass a bill to send to the Senate to defund ObamaCare or any agency or department. That doesn't suggest to me the House GOP is wise with their time and effort. It tells me they will use any excuse to avoid supporting their own agenda.

Looking at what the House GOP has done instead of making a show of sending TEA Party agenda items to the Senate doesn't inspire any confidence does it. They are like Gen McClellan. Up until the day they have 435 members in their caucus they will conclude they are undermanned. Until they have metaphysical certainty of success they see likely defeat, so why try?

This is one of our fundamental and fatal flaws. We see the merest light on the horizon, that could be a bright new era, or maybe it's just a passing set of headlights, and we conclude the new era is her, the accomplishments are realized, and the other side has seen their era and changed their minds.

Is there one conservative in the country that disputes the GOP is dreadful about communicating? There is zero improvement on that issue and it's been one of the loudest and most persistent complaints for how many years? They don't even hear our complaints. After each election they SAY they have heard the base, learned their lesson, and are ready for hard work. Not one bit of it is true yet we allow our desperation for those things to be true persuade us it might be true.

The Left will not give an inch until you politically club them like a baby seal. That's not a thump to send a political message, but a political thumping until they are unable to do other than comply. The thumping must continue until they are not an obstacle, not end as soon as they parrot our view back to us and we assume the rest will follow.

Boehner and the House leadership has shown no sign of doing anything but the barest minimum so they can list something as an accomplishment. Remember the $100 billion cut, which was less than $38?

If we don't recognize and stop our hopeful delusion about our leaders we truly are chumps. Withhold your support until they earn your support. This desperation to support ANYBODY but Obama signals we aren't even making demands on our candidate. What did we learn from GWB?

It looks like voters are ready for anybody but Obama, why not give them a Conservative? They never get more conservative once in DC, so our guy/gal needs to be strongly conservative at the start.

Posted by: Scott M at October 6, 2011 2:29 AM

Romney has shown that he can say just enough of the right things to convince the soft headed in the Republican Party that he is a "conservative". Boner and McConnell do not have the balls to worry about the country rather than their own positions. If I am going to be ruled by a fascist tyranny I will vote for that scum bag Obama who will at least act like a fascist tyrant, rather than a mealymouthed RINO who just wants to destroy the country a little more slowly and "nicely" than Obama and his fascist followers.

Posted by: St, Thor at October 6, 2011 7:07 AM

rickl: "I will not vote for Romney. Period.

If he is the nominee, I will vote Libertarian.

I've done it before, and I can do it again without batting an eye."

Here's what happened in 2008: "I think absolutely white Republicans did not show up," he said. "They were turned off, disillusioned. They did not turn out. Democratic voters did come out. They couldn't wait to vote."

Suit yourself, and reap the bitter rewards. Your description of Romney has some merit, but the lapsing into moral equivalence between Romney and Obama is downright silly. Try reading my piece again, and this time take notes. Thank you.

Posted by: Don Rodrigo at October 6, 2011 10:16 AM

If we are being ruled by Center Left when the country is Center Right, then wouldn't the corresponding change of government be to a Fully Right one? That is one which is as far to the right from average as the current one is to the left?

Or are conservatives not ever allowed to win? At best they can break even, is that right?

Posted by: Brett_McS at October 7, 2011 2:04 AM

Mr. Rodrigo

I have re-read your article and taken notes. First off, the Democrat Senate, Cabinet, Czars, President and Vice-President we now have have turned General Motors, Chrysler, General Electric, Goldman Sachs, and other large financial institutions into crony capitalists licking Obama's butt. They are well on the way to doing the same thing to the medical system in this country. That is NOT center-left, but hard left kook fringe government. Romney, Godfather of Obamacare, wants to make Obamacare more efficient, not repeal the damned thing as it should be if the Constitution were followed. I seriously doubt he will do anything about getting the government out of General Motors and Chrysler, and I expect he will drop his pants for Jeff Imelt of GE just as Obama and the Democrat, helped by RINOS, Congress. Clearly the present Republicans in Congress have no interest in providing all people, including the poor, with inexpensive light bulbs, but are wiggling in pleasure at the prospect GE will be able to charge four and five times the cost of an incandescent light bulb for a bulb filled with hazardous substances. I seriously doubt if the spawn of George Romney even cares about the intrusive, choice destroying "insiders", "go-along-to-get-along" morons in Congress and the administrative agencies. Elect Romney and you will get larger, more intrusive government and for the Supreme Court you will get appointees like Stevens, Souter, Blackman, and, if you are really lucky,an O'Conner or a Kennedy. In short you will not change a damn thing in the results shown through the Court's decisions.

Posted by: St. Thor at October 7, 2011 8:06 AM

Romney vs Obama or you get your choice of stepping off the Empire State Building with an anvil or B-without the anvil.

Tell me again what's the difference once you reach the sidewalk.

Its just Obama Lite.

So if the GOP gives me the chance to vote for Romney I will decline. I suspect many Republicans will also sit at home. And Obama may win.

But its not as if the rank and file hasn't mentioned to the annointed that Bush, Dole, Bush II, McCain are not conservatives. So we held our nose and voted.

Guess what? The stench is too much. Romney, Perry, Cantor, Daniels, Pawlenty are all RINOs. You can keep them all.